09.27.07
Posted in Law of Attraction, Manifestation, Positive Thinking, Visualization
at 10:44 am
I was reading an interesting article about focused attention and Roger Federer (probably the best player in tennis if you’re not a sports type person). I found the link at a blog I like to read and he liked the article because it deals with Federer’s ability to “save” his concentration for his matches. I thought it was an interesting idea, so I went and read it and found a gem that totally relates to the Law of Attraction. First, here’s the quote (emphasis mine):
Federer has inspired an army of purple prose-writing editorialists to write encomiums to his play. Often the questions he is asked tend to come with a subtext of, “Your genius far exceeds these other guys, huh?” 
Further, writers tend to explain his dominance as a form of better thinking. But, during the U.S. Open, Federer often downplayed the amount of thinking and conscious effort he needs to put into playing tennis. It’s as if he’s trying to say, “Guys, I just go out there and play my game. I’m not a ballet dancer or an aeronautical engineer. I’m a tennis player, and I react to what happens out there.”
At this stage of his career, Federer more and more resembles Pete Sampras in his approach to winning. It’s not about the other guy, it’s about what you know you will summon from yourself at times of need. I suppose winning as much as those two guys have builds something more than confidence, something like faith.
Federer has that faith (and so did Rod Laver, judging by some fascinating comments Rosangel put up on the “Simply the Best?” post). And he’s less strategic than many analysts would have you believe. He’s not out there thinking all that consciously about slicing followed by the deep topspin forehand followed by the dropshot. His is an athletic genius, after all, and as he says, “it goes too fast.” Instead, he uses his mind to make sure he’s ready to concentrate at those crucial moments he is so good at identifying, and once there, doing what comes to him. That’s what I think he meant when he said, after Isner, “it’s all in the mind and it’s all in the moment.“
My favorite part of that is that it’s not about anyone else, it’s about what we know about ourselves. And further, it’s about unwavering focus on what we know. We’re all not Roger Federer, obviously, but we all don’t want to be great tennis players either. This is a great reminder to evaluate what we know about ourselves and what we want. It’s important to throw away all those thoughts that don’t make us feel good and selectively focus on the thoughts that make us feel great and empowered. Once our attention is focused more on knowing that were capable of doing, everything we set our attention to than on what we specifically need to do, the details will take care of themselves.
By focusing our attention selectively that way, our manifestation process becomes a question of what (what we want) not how (what the Universe does to bring it to us). (Say that to yourself a hundred times: I need to focus on what not how. What not how.) One thing I’ve been saying over and over to myself when I worry about something is, “I don’t know how this is all going to work out, but I know it will. The Universe always says yes.” and I stop worrying. (Sometimes for about ten minutes and then I say the same thing to myself again.)
What do you know about yourself? What are some of the things that you naturally assume? What can you do to tweak those things to make each moment better for yourself?
Permalink
09.19.07
Posted in Paths to Bliss, Positive Thinking, Visualization
at 8:46 am
Over at Occupational Adventure, there is an interesting post about how our brain is wired:
“If the top is convinced, the bottom level of data will be overruled.” In other words, what you believe, you see. That has so much potential to be either an amazing asset, or an excruciating obstacle.
Take a look at your life. More specifically, take a look at the idea of creating a life that feels fun, meaningful, and fulfilling. How do you see it? Is the top convinced that it’s possible, or a pipe-dream? With a 10 to 1 ratio of information going down as coming up, you can see why - however you see it - you’re probably right.
In other words, we see what we believe. A great example of this is the success of placebos–our belief is that the medication will help, therefore it helps. This basically means that our brain is wired for visualization and manifestation. Our picture of reality is literally based 10x more on our beliefs than by what is actually in front of us. If we wake up and and believe that it’s going to be a crappy day, everything we see will reflect that belief. If we believe we are ugly, every time we look in a mirror our ugliness will stare back at us. If on the other hand, we believe that great things are going to happen and that we are beautiful, the things we see will reflect that belief.
Just imagine the power of our physiology at work here. It shows the amazing power of positive thinking in a very concrete way. If we deliberately reprogram our beliefs to focus on positive things, what we see around us will be positive. The momentum of that positivity will lead to wonderful things.
Permalink
02.21.07
Posted in Manifestation, Paths to Bliss, Visualization
at 1:51 pm
When we’re trying to work towards our happiness and what we really want, it really helps to have something to visualize–whether it’s a new job, a new house, a great vacation, a goal, or something fun. For the past month or so, there has been synchronicity in my life telling me that I needed to make a Dream Board. A Dream Board makes your dreams physically present with you which in turn builds even more energy towards them. You’re saying “I want this and I can have it!” It is also a lovely reminder of all the things that are in the works for you and a wonderful way to snap into happiness by looking at them.
What is a Dream Board Anyway?
A Dream Board is a piece of foam, cork or strong poster board where you put pictures and cut outs and messages that represent the things you want. If you want a new house, you can put a picture of your dream house on the board. If you want a new job, you can put a description and/or a picture that represents the kind of job you want or the way you want to feel about your job. By creating a Dream Board, you are opening yourself to everything you put on it because you are physically reinforcing your desires and arranging your priorities.
How Do I Make a Dream Board?
I found these instructions from Colette Baron-Reid (she has a video in the members section):
- You’ll need a large (at least 3′ x 3′) piece of foam, cork, or strong poster board; a glue stick or thumbtacks, and scissors.
- Put a border around the area where you will be putting your dream images. This tells the universe that whatever you put inside the border is what you want to create.
- Put a picture of yourself in the center.
- Put a spiritual symbol on the top that reminds you of spirituality. It can be anything–as long as it makes you think of spiritual energy.
- Put a statement of your highest good.
“This or something better now manifests for me for the highest good in divine appropriate timing.”
- Cut out photos and pictures of things you want to manifest. Accompany by affirmations.
- Hang your board somewhere you see it often.
- Turn it over to the universe. Affirm it as if it already happened and say thank you.
Some Things to Think About
The guidelines above, are just that: guidelines. You can (and should!) interpret and bring personal intuition to the process to make it meaningful to you. For example, my husband and I took a black foam board and glued some colorful paper to it while leaving a border of the black foam board instead of actually drawing a border. For nebulous goals that didn’t necessarily have a pictorial representation, I wrote out a list of feelings (when I reach this goal, I will feel like …). When the picture didn’t quite capture what I was going for, I wrote on the board to clarify.
The clarifications and intentions behind what you put on your Dream Board are a critical part of the process because you will bring what is on the board into you life at some point. This is the “be careful what you ask for” disclaimer. It’s important to make sure you want what you’re asking for and that your intentions behind the dreams you put on the board mesh with your life and what you really want.
Have fun with this process. This is a powerful way to place an order with the universe and make breakthroughs in your life. My husband and I want a new house and are having a lot of fun picking out furniture and imagining what kind of house we want. We’ve been to furniture stores and we put pictures of furniture we like and a house we like on the board. We put a picture of vacations we’d love to take. It has really been a joyful process.
Permalink
01.29.07
Posted in Manifestation, Paths to Bliss, Visualization
at 11:38 am
Speaking of visualizing and living intentionally, I ran across* a wonderful application called the Intention Engine. It is a free tool that helps you flesh out your desires and set an intention to manifest them. Sometimes I say that I want something and I picture myself having it, but I don’t spend a lot of time really thinking about it, creating affirmations for it, or putting the time into the manifestation. The Intention Engine is a great way to spend some time and really focus on what you’re trying to manifest. You name it in several ways, you speak intention for it, set a time frame for it and you can describe a scene for it. The Engine then helps create affirmations and gives you tools to focus on what you want and then release it to the universe.
Good stuff!
[*Jodee Bock posted about the Intention Engine on her blog Miracle a Day, thank you!]
Permalink
Posted in Paths to Bliss, Visualization
at 10:35 am
I’ve been thinking about the ten steps in yesterday’s post since I ran across them. I think they are a wonderful way to evaluate how we’re approaching our lives and help us make a conscious choice to take charge of them. It’s easy to fall into the pattern of believing that our lives just happen to us while we abdicate responsibility for the good and the bad that we see around us. When we fall into that mindset, we live defensively and reactively to the situations in our lives.
The best way to draw what we want into our lives is to live intentionally rather than reactively. Acknowledging that we’re responsible for the good and bad around us lends energy to our creation process. We can become accustomed to intentionally creating our lives by turning that creation into a daily practice. It makes sense–we develop most skills by practicing and developing intuition for them by discovering techniques that make sense for us. We should put at least the same amount of effort into living fulfilling lives.
Here are some suggestions for turning your life into a daily practice:
- Before you get out of bed or during your morning routine, actively create your day. Thing about the things you want to happen or a way you’d like to feel and visualize what it would be like. Remember to ask for a sign to affirm your creation process so you can see it working.
- Choose positive energy by avoiding the negative. There’s a lot of fear in the world these days and it’s hard not to lose focus if we surround ourselves with news and information playing into it. I have been training myself to be allergic to negativity. If I encounter negativity as I go about my day, I reject it by changing the channel or the subject or my direction. I choose to believe that life is a positive experience and I find dwelling on negative things distasteful.
- When something signifigant (good or bad) comes into your life, take a moment to think about how you drew it into your life. If it’s a good thing, incorporate what you did into your daily practice. If it’s a bad thing, think about ways to avoid drawing that energy into your life again.
- Incorporate joy into each day. Make sure that you do something every day that you love to do. Joy is one of the most powerful manifesting forces in the universe and if you choose to bring it into your life on a daily basis, it will bring that power to you.
- Be grateful!
Permalink
01.26.07
Posted in Paths to Bliss, Visualization
at 6:30 am
Susan Velez has a great reminder about the power of our thoughts and our ability to shape our world:
Something amazing happened to me yesterday. I was sitting in the Borders parking lot writting in my journal. I wrote down what I expected to happen in the next 6 hours of that same day.
Amazingly everything that I wrote down in my journal took place that same night.
It is amazing that I created my day yesterday, just like I wrote it down on paper. Talk about power.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that our thoughts are having a profound impact on our lives. It tends to be easier to feel guilty about having negative thoughts than to feel really great about using them to manifest what we want. Here’s a wonderful exercise described in the What the Bleep Do We Know movie by Dr. Joe Dispenza:
I wake up in the morning and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now sometimes, because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down and get to the point of where I’m actually intentionally creating my day. But here’s the thing: When I create my day and out of nowhere little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neural net in my brain that I accept that that’s possible. (This) gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
